Tradition...

My daughter eagerly opens a small heavy box, unveiling a sticky pinkish brown guaze wrapped brick. smelling of liquour.
If it is what I suspect,...
"Mom is this tradition?"
"Um well,I suppose you could call it that."
We were in the middle of lots of change and up-heavel and this ancient blessing - a fruitcake, from my mother's sister,  Aunt Beth, had arrived.  Later Aunt Beth called and described the long process of how she made them, a tradition in that family, somehow not practiced by my mother, I had not seen one of these in years.  A thread from the past linking to the future...

My mom choose to move away from the east, from the family and some of the traditons did not come with her.

So here I was with my own daughter, she 11, me about 39, she eager to learn. The overlap of generations, and what am I teaching my family about it.

ien.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradition‎A tradition is a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past

What if we can't do the old traditions, what is the new?  Are some just empty and need reinventing?  How do we honor the past and welcome the future?  I believe we crave traditions,  something that is returned to year after year, assuring of the continuity of life and also can/will hold onto the old, just as any behaviour until we can replace it with something more true for us now.

What if our family life has been not the Walt Disney Family life, so holding onto tradition can carry mixed messages of denial, resentment, pain. etc.

Now my family lives very far apart, all over the country, I thought of doing a conference call.  Well some of us hardly ever talk to each other so there is a bit of some shuffling, scuffling going on.  As usual my dark energy comes up to be reviewed,  That too is a tradition - gift of  the stars - part of the seasonal rebirth.

Trying new things, without expectation....


Are you aware  of any shifts in your approach to traditions?  Maybe re-embracing some or letting some go?  I would love to hear, blessings Jill